Biography
Arin Lister is a multifaceted comedian, writer, self-taught digital artist, and content creator originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. She began her creative journey in 2006, making her mark on YouTube under the aliases EliteParanoia and EliteParanoid, where she shared Halo 2 glitch videos and quirky MS Paint animation shorts that quickly gained a niche following.
In 2007-2008, she co-founded Critical Pictures, debuting the mini-series Take It Sevenfold-an amateur yet clever collection of animated shorts that captured the imagination of her growing online audience. Although a 2011 reboot, Take-It Sevenfold: Re-Animation, was shelved after four episodes, it reflected Arin's early passion for animation and storytelling.
By 2009, she expanded into new creative territory with Gear Babies, an animated war film inspired by Gears of War, and began editing music videos and co-hosting the web series Happy Critical Day! with longtime collaborator Kalen (Kally) Armstrong. The series ran for around ten episodes before a major setback in March 2010-Arin's channel was hacked and all her content was lost.
Undeterred, she rebuilt from the ground up. She completed Gear Babies later that year and resumed Take-It Sevenfold: Re-Animation, before shifting focus in 2011 to Happy Critical Day! Reconstruction. By 2012, she pivoted toward convention vlogging, which gained traction and pulled her attention away from episodic content.
That same year, Arin launched a new creative project under the working title Children of War, which evolved into 2.0. Teaming up with Critical Pictures and co-founding Temarfilm Industries with Kally Armstrong, she moved toward long-form storytelling with an emphasis on feature filmmaking.
In 2013, Arin relocated from Cincinnati to Toledo, Ohio. Production on 2.0 began shortly after and concluded in late 2016. Following its completion, she officially retired from animation and rebranded herself as Arcanum Order, shifting her focus to vlogging and transferring her earlier work to a joint channel under Temarfilm Industries.
In 2017, Arin made a cross-country move to Los Angeles, California, where she expanded her artistic reach into cosplay, independent filmmaking, voice acting, and YouTube vlogging. Her high-impact cosplay and collaborations with studios like Behaviour Interactive (BHVR), Obsidian Entertainment, and Bethesda Game Studios-particularly her Fallout and Dead by Daylight work-earned her industry recognition and a devoted following. She eventually rebranded her creative platform as Agitation (later Agitation Industries), giving her growing portfolio a new identity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Arin began a gradual and indefinite creative hiatus, citing burnout and the emotional toll of fandom culture. By 2023, she emerged under a new personal content handle: Dark Devotion, marking yet another chapter in her ever-evolving career.
Since late 2023, Arin has been living in Indio, California, and has taken an extended hiatus from creative work. In her own words she shared: "I got tired of people caring about what I think or everything I do," reflecting on the growing pressure of online visibility. She cited the rising costs of cosplay and the increasingly draining atmosphere of conventions as major factors in her decision to step away. On TikTok, she voiced her desire for a more grounded, ordinary life.
As of May 2025, Arin has largely withdrawn from social media and public platforms, sharing only occasional updates with a small, trusted inner circle. Still based in Indio, she spends much of her time in quiet companionship with a close male friend.
As of July 2025, Arin has been writing a poignant and darkly comedic memoir titled Fiction, which traces her life through a raw, non-linear lens. The book candidly explores her experiences with borderline personality disorder, anxiety, depression, and substance use-rooted in early-life trauma, including abuse by an alcoholic mother and childhood sexual abuse by a family member. It weaves together the impact of those events on her adult relationships, her struggles with homelessness, and the difficulty of maintaining friendships, revealing a powerful story of survival. At its core, Fiction reveals a compelling story of resilience and survival, driven by Arin's unrelenting perseverance and will to endure for the sake of her complex love for a meth addict, and her own right to reclaim her narrative.
